[Lee Jong-gil's Film Reading] North and South Robbers and Hostages Ask, 'What Do You Think It Will Be Like If Unification Happens?'

'Money Heist: Joint Economic Area' Writer Ryu Yong-jae
"'If Unification Happens...' Depicts Desire and Change Amid Confusion with Contrasting Roles"
"Increasingly New Story... Criticism of Creativity Is Unfair"

‘Money Heist: Joint Economic Area’ writer Ryu Yong-jae believes there are two prerequisites for a remake: love for the original work and a clear reason for recreating it. The latter alone can justify a remake if the original is less known. However, this does not apply to ‘Money Heist.’ Season 5 was the second most-watched series on Netflix last year, following ‘Squid Game.’

When Ryu met with Asia Economy on the 1st, he said, "I thought that by setting the story against the backdrop of a divided Korean Peninsula and placing interesting characters, we could tell a new story." He added, "In the Spanish original, there is a scene where the Professor (?lvaro Morte) reveals the intention behind occupying the mint to print 2.4 billion euros. If the setting is the Korean Peninsula on the verge of unification, more intentions could emerge. In a chaotic political situation, interest groups chasing profits inevitably appear."

Thus, the group he conceived is the Oseong Group, which promises massive investment in North Korea. It is briefly introduced in the opening of episode 1 through various media reports. "People who made a fortune riding the winds of change in both the South and the North appeared one after another." After that, related content or clues appear only once until episode 6. The rest of the episodes closely follow the original’s hostage drama and negotiations. This lack of twists or variations has led to criticism of insufficient creativity.

Ryu said, "As a fan of the original, I had a strong desire to fully convey the charm of a caper movie," but also stated, "I cannot agree with the criticism that it only changed the background." He explained, "Netflix released episodes 1 to 6 as Part 1 and episodes 7 to 12 as Part 2, which seems to have caused misunderstandings. ‘Money Heist: Joint Economic Area’ is structured so that the more the robbers’ plan faces crises, the stronger the new story’s color becomes. While opinions may vary, it is unfair to criticize it as identical to the original after watching only up to episode 6."

In fact, the starting point during the planning stage was the assumption, ‘What if unification happened centered on capital?’ The socioeconomic repercussions of issuing a unified currency inevitably had to be intensively portrayed in some episode. At the center is the protagonist, the Professor (Yoo Ji-tae), who was the mastermind behind past inter-Korean economic cooperation models. He advocated the core value that both North and South could become wealthy. However, he confesses that the moment he took the lead in concretizing this, he became his own Oppenheimer.

Ryu revealed, "We referred extensively to the situation before and after German unification in 1990." He noted, "We focused on the wealth gap between West and East Germans and changes in historical perspectives. Behind the changing currents, desire was always present. I thought it would be no different for us. People often say that unification will lead to a better life. I wanted to anticipate what we expect and how much we can fulfill those expectations."

The intention is clearly reflected in the contrasting thoughts and actions of the characters. Tokyo (Jeon Jong-seo) and Yoon Mi-seon (Lee Joo-bin), both from North Korea, are representative examples. The former sets the goal of settling in South Korea and pursues it with a proactive attitude. However, after being scammed, she ends up penniless and commits murder. The latter joins the Korea Unification Mint as an accountant but cannot live by her own free will. She commits adultery, believing that a powerful figure like Director Jo Young-min (Park Myung-hoon) guarantees a stable life. Ryu emphasized, "It is necessary to pay attention to Yoon Mi-seon’s transformation process," adding, "I wanted to portray her as someone pursuing true happiness regardless of openness."

Not all characters show meaningful changes. Ryu placed the backstories of main characters in the prologues of each episode. Rio (Lee Hyun-woo) is depicted as a hacker who dropped out of medical school and got caught in a whirlpool of reckless living, and Denver (Kim Ji-hoon) appears as a delinquent who fell into crime while resenting his mother. Issues like the North-South problem or social injustices and maladies in Korean society are not visible. They simply have unique backgrounds. Even these fade faintly, buried under the focus on the hostage drama and negotiations.

Ryu conveyed a message of request, saying, "In the tension-rising Part 2, the robbers make various choices. The emotions from the prologues will act as a major driving force at that time." He earnestly asked, "Please watch all 12 episodes and judge whether they are organically connected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.